BrockWI wrote:Yes, when it's below 30F outside it doesn't matter what temp you set it to, if it is set to 70 or 80 it draws about 1000w once it's "warm" and it will never hit 70F inside on fan speed one anyway

Sort of, with the fan on speed one it can only move so much heat out so the heater sits at about 1000w whether it is set for 70F or 90F If you turn the fan speed up it then it starts to use more power to keep the core part of the heater at it's temp.

BrockWI wrote:Sort of, with the fan on speed one it can only move so much heat out so the heater sits at about 1000w whether it is set for 70F or 90F If you turn the fan speed up it then it starts to use more power to keep the core part of the heater at it's temp.

hmmm... haven't seen that but wasn't looking for it either. Yesterday I was playing with heater and It would bounce to about 2000 watts then started dropping. I switch to defrost and it went to 3250 on heat, no AC. So switched back to see if heat power would rise and started dropping immediately and was back down to 1500 after 5 mins.

Then I thought maybe heat had hit set point (not likely who ya never know, right) so switch back to defrost and it immdiately starts to rise but still no AC. OAT 32º humidity 100%

But definitely uses less power than my 2013 did. It would use around 2500 watts heat and some AC sometimes as much as 2000

i dont know if that has been postet yet: on a 2013+ leaf isolating the naked aluminium tubes that lead from the compressor of the heat pump at the bottom of the engine bay to the cabin interior at the fire wall can make the leaf feel more like fall than winter and decide earlier and more often to use the heat pump instead of the ptcs to heat and cut energy consumption a lot. i did this on my 30kWh leaf.

the ptcs are 1,5kW around and the heat pump is at 0,5kW consumption. this is an efficient 2US$ mod, especially when preheating the cabin.

remember i did this first on my blue 2011 leaf in stuttgart/germany, which had the liquid heating system.

leaf has two different heating systems: above 0°C it uses its heat pump because its more efficient. under 0°C it uses its keramic PTCs because they kick in within seconds and are self regulated. they are efficient but eat lots more power (x3) than the heat pump.

LeftieBiker wrote:What is the diameter of the tubes, or, more usefully, will foam pipe wrap (the kind with a slit pre-cut in it) work for the job? If so, what size wrap?

Looks like that's the type of pipe wrap that was linked, I'm guessing this would only be required for the '11/'12 model year Leafs? the ones with a liquid heating loop as opposed to post '12 Leafs with the hot air heating? My '12 heats like crap, very slow to heat and never really gets all that hot, sounds like I should put it up on ramps this summer and have a look

Last edited by jjeff on Wed Dec 27, 2017 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hornstudio wrote:leaf has two different heating systems: above 0°C it uses its heat pump because its more efficient. under 0°C it uses its keramic PTCs because they kick in within seconds and are self regulated. they are efficient but eat lots more power (x3) than the heat pump.

That isn't how they work. Both heaters are used down to about 5F, with the heat pump providing less and less of the heat as the temperature drops below freezing. The PTC heater is used to help heat the cabin rapidly even at mild temps.